Something That Didn't Make The News

[Tgace]

Something That Didn't Make The News
May 7, 2004

Maybe you'd like to hear about something other than idiot Reservists and naked Iraqis.

Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who honored the uniform he wears.

Meet Brian Chontosh.

Churchville-Chili Central School class of 1991. Proud graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Husband and about-to-be father. First lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.

And a genuine hero.

The secretary of the Navy said so yesterday.

At 29 Palms in California Brian Chontosh was presented with the Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery the United States can bestow.

That's a big deal.

But you won't see it on the network news tonight, and all you read in Brian's hometown newspaper was two paragraphs of nothing. Instead, it was more blather about some mental defective MPs who acted like animals.

The odd fact about the American media in this war is that it's not covering the American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world is receiving virtually no true information about what its warriors are doing.

Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have fallen. And we see those same casket pictures day in and day out. And we're almost on a first-name basis with the pukes who abused the Iraqi prisoners. And we know all about improvised explosive devices and how we lost Fallujah and what Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates us.

We get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom.

But we don't hear about the heroes.

The incredibly brave GIs who honorably do their duty. The ones our grandparents would have carried on their shoulders down Fifth Avenue.

The ones we completely ignore.

Like Brian Chontosh.

It was a year ago on the march into Baghdad. Brian Chontosh was a platoon leader rolling up Highway 1 in a humvee.

When all hell broke loose.

Ambush city.

The young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades. And the kid out of Churchville was in charge. It was do or die and it was up to him.

So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead his men to safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his humvee came under direct enemy machine gun fire.

It was fish in a barrel and the Marines were the fish.

And Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack. He told his driver to floor the humvee directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them. And he had the guy on top with the .50 cal unload on them.

Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across the machine gun and Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take the humvee directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines. Over into the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride.

And he ran down the trench.

With its mortars and riflemen, machineguns and grenadiers.

And he killed them all.

He fought with the M16 until he was out of ammo. Then he fought with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up another dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo.

At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.

When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of entrenched Iraqis from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20 and wounded at least as many more.

But that's probably not how he would tell it.

He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got them out of trouble. Hoo-ah, and drive on.

"By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, 1st Lt. Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."

That's what the citation says.

And that's what nobody will hear.

That's what doesn't seem to be making the evening news. Accounts of American valor are dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet accounts of American difficulties are heralded as objectivity. It makes you wonder if the role of the media is to inform, or to depress - to report or to deride. To tell the truth, or to feed us lies.

But I guess it doesn't matter.

We're going to turn out all right.

As long as men like Brian Chontosh wear our uniform.

- by Bob Lonsberry C 2004




Bob Lonsberry is the host of the increasingly popular morning show on KNRS radio in Salt Lake City, Utah -- the second-most popular AM radio station in Utah. A veteran, Lonsberry is a former Army "Journalist of the Year" and is a recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal.

 

[Tgace]

Another Naval Cross You Didn't Hear About In the News



MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.(May 6, 2004) -- Marine Pfc. Joseph B. Perez received the Navy Cross Medal from the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, during an awards ceremony Thursday at Marine Corps Air-Ground Training Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Perez, 23, a Houston, Texas, native, received the naval service's second highest award for extraordinary heroism while serving as a rifleman with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom April 4, 2003. The Medal of Honor is the highest military award.

1st Platoon came under intense enemy fire while clearing near Route 6 during the advance into Baghdad. Perez, the point man for the lead squad, and therefore the most exposed member of the platoon, came under the majority of these fires.

Without hesitation, he continuously fired his M16A4 rifle to destroy the enemy while calmly directing accurate fires for his squad. He led the charge down a trench destroying the enemy and while closing and under tremendous enemy fire, threw a grenade into a trench that the enemy was occupying. While under a heavy volume of fire, Perez fired an AT-4 rocket into a machine gun bunker, completely destroying it and killing four enemy personnel. His actions enabled the squad to maneuver safely to the enemy position and seize it.

In an effort to link up with 3rd Platoon on his platoon's left flank, Perez continued to destroy enemy combatants with precision rifle fire. As he worked his way to the left, he was hit by enemy fire, sustaining gunshot wounds to his torso and shoulder. Despite being seriously injured, Perez directed the squad to take cover and gave the squad accurate fire direction to the enemy that enabled the squad to reorganize and destroy the enemy.

"It is unreal, it is not what I expected, it is unbelievable," Perez said. "This is real weird for me, because, I am not big on special events," said Perez.

In effect since April 1917, and established by an Act of Congress on Feb. 4, 1919, the Navy Cross may be awarded to any person who, while serving with the Navy or Marine Corps, distinguishes himself/herself in action by extraordinary heroism not justifying an award of the Medal of Honor.

The action must take place under one of three circumstances: while engaged in action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or, while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict in which the United States is not a belligerent party. To earn a Navy Cross the act to be commended must be performed in the presence of great danger or at great personal risk and must be performed in such a manner as to render the individual highly conspicuous among others of equal grade, rate, experience, or position of responsibility.

More than 6,000 Navy Crosses have been awarded since World War I.

Story by: CPL. Luis Agostini

 

[GAB]

Hi Tgace,
Thanks for the informative articles, we have a very unusual climate in this country.

We are very lucky, to say the least to have young men and women who are still interested in doing something that is so dangerous and again getting the big kick in the pants, not only from the press, but others.

Like taking away their benifits and not paying or holding up to a contract that the Government said they would.

I just hope we will be able to still hold our head up after this one?
Semper Fi.

Regards, Gary

 

[Tgace]

Since "provide for the common defense" was the second issue mentioned in the Deceleration of Independence, you would think that caring for our people in uniform (lifelong if need be) would be high up on the priority list wouldnt you???

 

[Tgace]

(Hey I was born at Ft.Campbell. Dad was with the 101st in 1968:ultracool )


FORT CAMPBELL, Ky., Feb. 11, 2004 - A 101st Airborne Division soldier who, despite being critically wounded himself, repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to treat wounded comrades in Iraq received the Silver Star here Feb. 5.

Pvt. Dwayne Turner, a combat medic assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, provided life-saving medical care to 16 fellow soldiers April 13 when his unit came under a grenade and small-arms attack 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Turner and two other medics from Company A of that battalion were part of a work detail that came under attack as they unloaded supplies in a makeshift operations center.

"I moved to (my vehicle) just before the first grenade came over the wall," Turner said. "The blast threw me even further into the vehicle, and I took on some shrapnel."

Ignoring his own injuries, Turner ran to the front of his vehicle and saw a soldier with eye injuries.

"I checked him out, and tried to get him into a building," Turner said. The other two medics established a triage system under the cover of a building while Turner ran back outside to bring more soldiers into the makeshift clinic.

"I just started assessing the situation, seeing who was hurt, giving them first aid and pulling them into safety," he said, downplaying his actions on that day.

Turner, his legs wounded by shrapnel in the initial attack, was shot at least twice while giving first aid to the soldiers.

"I didn't realize I was shot," he said. "A couple of times, I heard bullets going by, but I thought they were just kicking up rocks on me."

At one point during the attack, one of Turner's fellow medics told him he was bleeding. "Someone told me, 'Doc Turner, Doc Turner, you're bleeding.'" he said. "I looked down at my leg and saw I was bleeding, and kind of said, 'Oh hell, if I'm not dead yet, I guess I'm not dying.'"

"I don't think he realized how much blood he lost," said Sgt. Neil Mulvaney, from the same unit as Turner.

"After I got the first patient inside the building, I sort of slumped down in the corner," Turner said. "I didn't think there was any way we were going to get out of there, and it would have been really easy to just stay in that corner.

"Then I heard (the wounded) calling for medics," he continued, "and I realized I could let them continue to get hurt -- and possibly die -- and not come home to their families, or I could do something about it."
Turner chose to do something about it. He continued to give first aid and to bring soldiers in from the barrage of gunfire outside the compound until he finally collapsed against a wall from loss of blood. A bullet had broken his right arm. He had been shot in the left leg. Shrapnel had torn into both of his legs.

The Silver Star is awarded for gallantry in combat, but Turner does not see himself as a hero.

"Nobody gets left behind," he said emphatically. "We were the medical personnel on hand. You're not relieved from your duty until someone comes. No one else was going to get the job done, so we did."

Although Turner downplays his heroism, the Army believes that at least two of the 16 soldiers he treated would have died had he not been there.

"He risked his life for 16 other men without noticing his own injuries - that's heroism in my book," Mulvaney said.

"I was just doing my job," Turner insisted. "As far as the values of the Army, it's not to 'earn' a Silver Star; it's to uphold what you signed on for. Other people may see me as a hero; I see myself as doing my job. No one is going to die on my watch." Turner's Silver Star is the highest award given to any 101st soldier during Operation Iraqi Freedom thus far. He received the Purple Heart in July.

 

[Tgace]

LEADERSHIP: Medal of Honor Awarded for Iraq Action



October 23, 2003: In today's world, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that one man can make a difference. Paul Ray Smith is on the way to becoming the first serviceman to receive the Medal of Honor since MSG Gary Gordon and SFC Randall Shughart fought their last battle in Mogadishu on October 3, 1993.

During Operation Iraqi Freedom, SFC (Sergeant First Class) Smith was a platoon sergeant/acting platoon leader in the 1st Brigade's B Company, 11th Engineer Battalion attached to the 2-7 Task Force. Bravo Company was in contact with Saddam's forces nearly every day during the second phase of the campaign. After a pause below As Samawah and Karbala, the drive on Baghdad from the south carried the 2-7th into Saddam International Airport.

On the morning of April 4, the Task Force was inside of the airport and several enemy soldiers had been captured, so a containment pen had be to quickly built. There was a wall 10 ft tall paralleling the north side of the highway, on the battalion's flank just behind the front lines. Smith (whose callsign was 'Sapper 7') decided to punch a hole in it, so that the inside walls would form two sides of a triangular enclosure and the open third side could be closed off with rolls of concertina wire.

Smith used an armored combat earthmover to punch through the wall and, while wire was being laid across the corner, one of the squad's two M113s moved toward a gate on the far side of the courtyard. The driver pushed open the gate to open a field of fire, revealing between 50 and 100 enemy soldiers massed to attack. The only way out was the hole the engineers had put in the wall and the gate where the hardcore Iraqis were firing.

What happened next was equal to Audie Murphy's legendary World War II heroism. Iraqi soldiers perched in trees and a nearby tower let loose with a barrage of RPGs and there were snipers on the roof. A mortar round hit the engineers' M-113, seriously wounding three soldiers inside. Smith helped evacuate them to an aid station, which was threatened by the attack as well.

Smith promptly organized the engineers' defense, since the only thing that stood between the Iraqis and the Task Force's headquarters were about 15 to 20 engineers, mortarmen and medics. A second M113 was hit by an RPG, but was still operational. Dozens of Iraqi soldiers were charging from the gate or scaling a section of the wall, jumping into the courtyard.

Smith took over the second APC's .50-caliber machine gun and got the vehicle into a position where he could stop the Iraqis. First Sergeant Tim Campbell realized that they had to knock out the Iraqi position in the tower and after consulting with Smith, led two soldiers to take the tower. Armed only with a light machine-gun, a rifle and a pistol with one magazine, the trio advanced behind the smoke of tall grass that had caught fire from exploding ammunition.

Smith yelled for more ammunition three times during the fight, going through 400 rounds before he was hit in the head. Shortly before taking the tower and gunning down the Iraqis inside, Campbell noticed that the sound of Smith's .50-caliber had also stopped. Campbell figured Smith was just reloading again.

The medics worked on SFC Smith for 30 minutes, but he was dead.

According to the citation, his actions killed 20 to 50 Iraqis, allowing the American wounded to be evacuated, saving the aid station and headquarters (as well as possibly 100 American lives). Fellow soldiers credit Smith with thwarting the advance of well-trained, well-equipped soldiers from the Special Republican Guard, which was headed straight for the 2-7 Task Force's headquarters (Tactical Operations Center), less than a half-mile away. The battle captains, commanders and journalists huddled at the operations center were trying to protect themselves against tank fire and snipers in the nearby woods They had no idea about the possible onslaught of Republican Guard from the nearby complex.

Smith, a veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, was a 33 year old from Tampa, Florida. He left behind a wife, a son and a daughter.

Memorials to SFC Paul Ray Smith, online at: http://www.fallenheroesmemorial.com/oif/profiles/smithpaulr.html http://www.sfcpaulsmith.com/.

 

[Tgace]

PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- When Marine Maj. Neal F. Pugliese thinks about the events that led to him being awarded a Bronze Star Medal, it's not his personal accomplishments that come to mind.

What he sees is a Bronze Star reflecting the actions of a team - the entire 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) and the Marine Corps as a whole.

Pugliese, the anti-terrorism force protection officer for Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and Eastern Recruiting Region, was presented with the Bronze Star with a combat "V" device here Feb. 4. The award was for actions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as executive officer of Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines of the 15th MEU (SOC) .

Pugliese served as executive officer of the BLT in March and April 2003, encountering many challenges and obstacles.

"First and foremost, Marines don't take awards lightly," said Col. Michael Malachowsky, Depot chief of staff. "We don't hand them out to just anyone. For him to get the Bronze Star with combat 'V' is quite an accomplishment. Not many Marines are walking around with awards for combat valor."

Pugliese felt the honor was a direct representation of the efforts of all involved. "I am humbled by this award," he said. "I think that there are others that are certainly more deserving than I am, and I hope that they get recognized."

According to the Bronze Star Medal citation, "His coolness, demeanor, and aggressive spirit were inspirational and directly influenced the outcome of each action."

One such action was on Mar. 21 after he led troops to seize the Iraqi police headquarters and United Nations compound. The Maritime Special Purpose Force came under 82mm mortar fire from elements of the Iraqi 45th Infantry Brigade. The intensity and duration required the forces to fall back, consolidate and return fire to silence the Iraqi threat. He then rallied his men and personally led the attack taking the assigned objective.

Pugliese adamantly defers any credit bestowed on him as only a reflection of the team of which he was a member.

"I am not great, the Marines around me are great," he said. "The Marines around me made me look good. I don't have any special qualities. I don't have any special formula. Don't look at me as an individual, look at me as part of a team, and the other part of that team is the Marines."

That team effort was evenly distributed throughout the 15th MEU, from its leadership all the way down to its junior Marines.

"We had fantastic leadership over there," he said. "We were led by an absolutely superb officer. Brigadier General Thomas D. Waldhauser provided us with superb common-sense leadership as the MEU commander. Lieutenant Colonel Alvah Ingersoll provided us with phenomenal leadership at the BLT level. All of the folks who supported us logistically, the MSSG, created the conditions that allowed us to continue with our operations."

Pugliese is quick to place the credit on the shoulders of those he served with, as well as those who trained the Marines he served with.

"It is a testament to our Marines and how we train them," he said. "The Marines did an absolutely fantastic job, despite the numbers. We don't train our people to become overwhelmed. In the Marines we have a saying, 'We don't get overwhelmed. We eat that elephant one bite at a time.'"

Anyone can become overwhelmed when they are not trained properly. That is exactly what Pugliese believes is the key to troop welfare.

"Years ago, I had several conversations with some absolutely outstanding sergeants major," said Pugliese. "We were talking about welfare of the troops. Welfare of the troops to some people is getting them food, water, sleep and pay. The sergeants major that I talked to said, 'Welfare for the troops is making sure that you train them hard so that when you get into these shooting situations you can bring everybody home.' That's the best thing you can do - train them hard. If you work them hard, you are preparing them."

What is best for Marines in Pugliese's eyes is the continuation of time-tested methods.

"We need to continue to train our Marines to have initiative, aggressiveness and be bold. If we can instill that, that's 90 percent of the fight right there," he said.

Pugliese left Iraq with more than a medal. He came out of the experience with an admiration for the job that Marines do.

"What was most rewarding was seeing the Marines be able to conduct what we call a three-block war," he said. "We had the Marines who would be involved in some action, and the next block over, they are doing work to rebuild schools."

"The next block over, they are handing out humanitarian aid, and then, the next block over, they are conducting a patrol," he said.

"These Marines were able to shift back and forth between hostilities and humanitarian work, which showed an incredible amount of flexibility and agility," added Pugliese.

Although Pugliese gives credit to the Marines of the 15th MEU, he felt a need to give attention to those Marines who are now going to Iraq in support of OIF II.

"The folks who really need our support right now are those Marines who are heading out for a second time to Iraq," he said. "I have no doubt that they are going to do absolutely fantastic work."

 

[Tgace]

OK this one did make the news...



http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/0/971CBB051DC237A885256EA000698DEB?opendocument

 

[rmcrobertson]

Question: how exactly is it that a story taken from "The Wall Street Journal," didn't make the news?

 

[Sapper6]

Question: how exactly is it that a story taken from "The Wall Street Journal," didn't make the news?

perhaps he was talking about loud, national, on all networks kind of news. i saw his point and he is right. it's rather easy these days for the retards running the liberal media outlet to bash and belittle what the men and women are doing over there and how we "shouldnt" be there or whatever. all that crap is overshadowing the more important things that are happening like the actions of the soldiers behind the above mentioned articles; not to mention the hundreds of thousands of folks who now have electricity, running water, school books, etc. you wont hear about all the good stuff happening over there or elsewhere, only the bad. that is what tgrace is referring to. :asian:

 

[Tgace]

:asian:

 

[Tgace]

http://www.dcmilitary.com/airforce/beam/9_02/national_news/27092-1.html

January 16, 2004
Roche unveils memorial for Air Force hero
Air Force technical sergeant honored for valor in combat

The secretary of the Air Force unveiled a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., Jan. 8 to honor the service's highest-decorated combat controller.

Tech. Sgt. John A. Chapman, from the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, was killed March 4, 2002, while fighting against the Taliban during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan. He was posthumously decorated with the nation's second-highest award for valor, the Air Force Cross.

The memorial, a glass-enclosed life-size model of a combat controller in full combat gear, features Chapman's award citation and photos of him on duty in Afghanistan. It will remain on display in the cemetery's visitor center until March 15, after which it will move to Air Force Special Operations Command headquarters at Hurlburt Field, Fla., for two weeks. The display then will travel to the Air Force Enlisted Heritage Museum at the Gunter Annex of Maxwell AFB, Ala., where it will be permanently displayed beginning March 31.

A duplicate memorial will be on permanent display at Lackland AFB, Texas.

"This display exemplifies all we value in the Air Force," Air Force Secretary Dr. James G. Roche told Chapman's relatives and representatives of the combat control career field. "John's personal bravery in the face of the enemy was emblematic of the warrior ethos."

According to his award citation, Chapman was attached to a Navy SEAL team when their helicopter was hit by enemy machinegun fire. A rocket-propelled grenade then hit the helicopter, causing a SEAL team member to fall from the aircraft into enemy-held territory.

Chapman called in an AC-130 gunship to protect the stranded team after the helicopter made an emergency landing more than four miles from the fallen SEAL.

After calling in another helicopter to evacuate his stranded team, Chapman volunteered to rescue his missing team member from the enemy stronghold. He engaged and killed two of the enemy before advancing and engaging a second enemy position -- a dug-in machinegun nest.

From close range, the citation reads, Chapman exchanged fire with the enemy from minimum personal cover until he succumbed to multiple wounds. His engagement and destruction of the first enemy position, and advancement on the second enemy position, enabled his team to move to cover and break enemy contact.

The Navy SEAL leader praised Chapman unequivocally with saving the lives of the entire team.

"It takes a particular breed of warrior to accomplish these missions," said Senior Master Sgt. James Lyons, commandant of the Air Force Combat Control School. "[It takes] an exceptional brand of courage, as well as confidence and patriotism, not to mention just a little bit of daring."

The memorial's unveiling comes nearly a year to the day after Roche and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper presented the Air Force Cross to Chapman's widow, Valerie.

"John died fighting terrorism, and we continue to live free today because of his sacrifice and the sacrifices of others," the secretary said.

Chapman's aunt and uncle, Sallie and Dale Chapman, helped Roche unveil the memorial, pulling off the olive drab parachute that had covered it.

"It's wonderful; what a tribute," Sallie Chapman said, her voice breaking with emotion. "My favorite part is the photo of him holding the [Afghan] child. I think they captured, in just this small display, every part of him."

 

[Tgace]

Knew this man personally. A very good person...

http://www.militarycity.com/valor/256861.html

 

[rmcrobertson]

How in the hell is "The Wall Street Journal," not "loud, national, on all networks," news? They have the biggest business paper in the world, a Sunday talk show, they're cited endlessly...

I love this, "the poor, picked upon Pentagon." Alas for beleaguered corporations!! The immensely wealthy need YOUR help! sort of stuff.

Oh, and just incidentally, I don't find it surprising in the least that members of our armed services behaved heroically, in the best traditions of their country and their service.

I find it shocking that a Frank Burns type like our current Prez--who, let us not forget, ducked out (like his VP, his Sec. of Defense) on service himself--acts like a parasite on their service and their heroism and their decency.

 

[Sapper6]

hey Robert, take a chill pill man. no need for you coming in the thread yelling and trying to prove your point about the WSJ. the fact is no, just because these articles "might have" made it to page 7 in that paper doenst mean it necessarily made the news. and no, it's still not loud, across the country, on all networks news coverage! this is a thread to honor the actions of our servicemen and women, and what GOOD they are doing over there. regardless of how you feel about the war, our president, or whatever twisted views you have, don't pollute the thread with your biased opinions! stay on topic or stay the hell out of it :asian:

 

[Sapper6]

Did you see the big headline or watch the top-of-the-newscast story about the success of our sons and daughters in Samarra, Iraq?

Of course, you didn't.

I found mention deep in stories from The Christian Science Monitor and The Associated Press. But it took e-mails from Marine officers in Iraq to relay the importance of this positive news — so I could tell you.

It shouldn't be this way. Yet journalism in America is broken. It has no foundation of values by which many Americans can relate and depend. The moral of this column is not about one side prevailing in news coverage on the war on terror. It's simply about fairness — about Americans getting both sides with the same prominence.

They're not. And media emphasis on Iraq being in chaos has coincided with John Kerry making the same pitch to voters. It makes you wonder, just as we did on the authenticity of Dan Rather's reporting. And now America knows about Rather's ruse.

''Samarra is a beaming success story over here,'' writes Lt. Col Jim Rose, a Tennessee Marine whose parents live in Old Hickory. ''We were getting ready for a take-down there right after Najaf. We told the locals, 'Hey, see what happened in Najaf? Is that what you want? Cause we're coming.' It took the locals about two days to get the bad guys out.''

Rose is based in the Sunni Triangle. That's where most U.S. casualties occur, where the Sunnis are supportive of terrorists coming in. Fallujah is there, along with Samarra and Najaf, where Marines drove terrorists out of one of Islam's holiest shrines.

Rose verified a message I received from another Marine officer in Iraq. He provided perspective missing in the media: ''Those achievements, more than anything else … account for the surge in violence in recent days — especially the violence directed at Iraqis by the insurgents. Both in Najaf and Samarra, ordinary people stepped out and took sides with the Iraqi government against the insurgents, and the bad guys are hopping mad. They are trying to instill fear once again.''

Rose asked: ''Why isn't the media covering Samarra?''

Instead, we get what reader Jim League of Smyrna complains about. He cited a picture and story featured at the top of Page 13A in Saturday's Tennessean:

''The perhaps 100 protesters get front-and-center billing, and the impression is that all of Iraq is unhappy. What is missing is perspective. Imagine a foreigner perusing the front page of The Tennessean. He reads about a 15-year-old-boy being chained to his bed for six weeks. Would he be justified in believing that all parents in America constrain their children? If he had no perspective and if his impression was selectively reinforced by subtle media or political pundits, this could be possible.''

Exactly. And what we get on TV is also just one side. Consider this story Rose saw reported: ''I was going through the battle damage assessment at my desk with NBC's Today on the TV. The attack occurred in the middle of the night. I had the footage of the attack on my computer, and here's Katie Couric (or whoever hosts it) showing the same bomb location.

''I had pictures of the bombed vehicles, which is how I knew she was talking about the same location. The next shot is kids being carried into a hospital. We had eyes on this for a long time. If there were kids in there, they were toting weapons or the terrorists used them as human shields. …

''I went to our Combat Operations Center and walked into them watching the same thing. I verified what I thought and spoke with our intelligence guys. They said the whole thing was staged and probably old footage. They track the footage and have seen repeat footage shown in the past. They also said to look at the footage and see if it makes sense. More often than not, it doesn't … pulling a child from rubble with relatively clean clothes. ''

Is NBC wrong and the Marines right? Americans deserve both sides to make up their minds.

''The Najaf shrine — HUNDREDS of dead women and children were brought out after Sadr left,'' Rose wrote. ''They (Sadr's supporters) rounded them up during the battle and brought them in to be executed. Why? Because they anticipated the Americans would eventually enter the shrine and walk into a media ambush. We never went in. The people of Najaf love us right now because of that. They hate Sadr and want him dead.

''Have you heard that one yet (in the media)?''

No we haven't. We just get one side. That's bad journalism — by a news media acting in concert with Kerry.

Tim Chavez is a columnist with The Tennessean. Contact him at [email protected] or (615) 771-5428.

 

[Sapper6]

hey Robert,

here are just a few things the "terrible Bush" has done for the people of Iraq.

According to a UNICEF report at the end of 2003, more than 3 1/2 million children had been immunized.

Again, according to an April, 2004 report from UNICEF, school attendance in Iraq increased by 60 percent shortly after the war to more than 95 percent during the recent national exam week.

UNICEF says that as of April, 2004, more than 2,500 schools have been renovated with the goal of 4,000 being completed by the end of the year, but 10,000 more need repair.

In a November, 2003 interview on National Public Radio, Andrew Natsios of the U.S. Agency for International Development said that the port at Umm Qasar, Iraq's largest, is modern and functioning for the first time in 20 years.

Because of disrepair and looting, it took a lot of work to get hospitals back up to speed but according to James Haverman, the Coalition Provisional Authority Senior Advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, all 240 hospitals in Iraq as well as 2400 primary health care clinics were operating as of December, 2003.

On March 8, 2004, an interim constitution that defines Iraq as being "federal, democratic and pluralist" was signed by members of the Iraqi Governing Council.

According to Human Rights Watch, Iraqi girls and women have enjoyed comparatively more rights than in some of the other countries of the Middle East.
The Iraqi Constitution of 1970 included women's rights for voting, attending school, owning property, and running for office.
Still, the status of women in Iraq has not always been the best because of other cultural and economic factors such as the aftermath of the 1991 war and economic sanctions.
School attendance for girls has not been prohibited although more boys than girls have been enrolled, especially in rural areas.

Not only are U.S. soldiers demonstrating field sanitation and hand washing, but UNICEF is conducting an active health education program to improve personal hygiene and promote more hand washing.

According to published reports, a team of U.S. appointed Iraqi educators combed through more than 500 Iraqi textbooks and removed every mention of Saddam Hussein and the Baath
party including pictures.
The texts will probably be revised by the Iraqis at some point in the future, but the pre-war texts were dominated with Saddam Hussein.

 

[oldnewbie]

Thanks for bringing these great stories to light.

Wish we could hear these on the major networks as much as we hear the "news"

 

[rmcrobertson]

"Yes, it's just TEN ration POINTS for a Big, BIG, Half-ounce bar!"

Robert A. Heinlein, invented government propaganda.

Lemme see here...you're taking your stuff from WSJ, "Christian Science Monitor," and National Public Radio (wait!! I thought NPR was a group of Bush-bashing commies!!!), but there's a suppression of the Good News From Iraq.

And...uh...lemme check....yes....the guy who calls himself "Sapper 6," uses a death-shead avatar, writes, "it's rather easy these days for the retards running the liberal media outlet to bash and belittle," offers long, long quotes, and responds with comments like, "regardless of how you feel about the war, our president, or whatever twisted views you have, don't pollute the thread with your biased opinions! stay on topic or stay the hell out," is offended by the way I write....

OK, on topic: simply because "the media," isn't reprinting every single piece of government and military propaganda on page 1, it hardly means that they're the Red Menace. And also on topic, and returning to the ration points quote: I used to read the same bright, chirpy articles about How Much They Love Us during the Vietnam War. At the time, I believed them.

Buck up, dude. It's only words.

 

[Brother John]

perhaps he was talking about loud, national, on all networks kind of news. i saw his point and he is right. it's rather easy these days for the retards running the liberal media outlet to bash and belittle what the men and women are doing over there and how we "shouldnt" be there or whatever. all that crap is overshadowing the more important things that are happening like the actions of the soldiers behind the above mentioned articles; not to mention the hundreds of thousands of folks who now have electricity, running water, school books, etc. you wont hear about all the good stuff happening over there or elsewhere, only the bad. that is what tgrace is referring to. :asian:

Yes, these things do not make it to the Larger Mass media that most people pay attention to like drones...
Aka: CBS, NBC, ABC....NPR....
etc.

agreed.
Thank you for sharing these with us.

Your Brother
John